The Anadolu Agency, citing unnamed security officials, said a bomb exploded on a highway linking the provinces of Mardin and Diyarbakir, killing three soldiers inside a military vehicle. The agency said the bomb was planted by militants of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.

Earlier, eight soldiers were hurt when an improvised explosive device planted went off on a road in the province of Van as their vehicle was passing by. Two of the soldiers are in serious condition, it said. A similar attack on a military vehicle on a road in Hakkari wounded four other soldiers, the agency reported.

The military has launched operations to catch the assailants.

Fighting between state forces and the PKK resumed last year after a cease-fire collapsed. Anadolu says more than 600 security force members and thousands of PKK militants have been killed since then.

The PKK is considered a terror organization by Turkey and its Western allies.

OPINION At least part of me wasn’t sure I should write this, given what happened last time. It was August 15, 2003 and like many Thursdays before it, I was scratching around for a column idea. The summer newsroom